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Thursday, February 7 – New Library Opening Pushed Back

OCEAN CITY – The anticipated opening date for Ocean City’s new 13,000-square-foot, state of the art public library on 100th Street was moved back this week when inspectors failed to issue a certificate of occupancy for the facility as expected on Monday.

Inspectors were expected to officially turn the new facility over to the county, and thus Ocean City Library officials on Monday with the issuance of the certificate of occupancy (CO), but some last minute issues had to be resolved before the CO could be issued.

Worcester County Library Director Mark Thomas told members of the resort’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) on Wednesday the next available time slot for the issuance of the CO had been moved up to this Monday, which, in turn, will set the opening of the facility to the public back a few weeks.

“We are as anxious as you are,” he said. “We had hoped to get the CO on Monday, but we have some minor issues to resolve. There is nothing unsolvable to work out before we get the CO.”

Once the CO is obtained, library officials will spring into action to get the facility ready to open to the public. That will include stocking the shelves with books and materials, hooking up computers and training the staff.

“It will take some time between when we get the certificate and when we’re ready to unveil this wonderful library to the public,” said Thomas. “We expect to be ready sometime early in March. We’ll probably have a soft opening, kind of a shakedown cruise, before we’re ready for the masses.”